Margarete Himmler

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Margarete Siegroth (1918)

Margarete Himmler , short form Marga Himmler , b. Boden , divorced Siegroth , (born September 9, 1893 in Goncarzewo near Bromberg , † August 25, 1967 in Munich ) was the wife of Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler .

Life

Youth, first marriage and divorce

Margarete Boden was the daughter of the landowner Hans Boden and his wife Elfriede, nee. Popp. She had four siblings. She completed her school career in 1909 at the secondary school for girls in Bromberg . She completed her training as a nurse , which she completed during the First World War , and then worked in a hospital of the German Red Cross (DRK). Their childless first marriage failed after a short time and was divorced. Thanks to her father's financial support, she was able to become a partner in a private clinic in Berlin and manage the nursing service there. She was involved in the commercial success of the private clinic.

Wife of Heinrich Himmler

Margarete (center) and Heinrich Himmler with daughter Gudrun
Himmler with his wife in November / December 1936 in front of the Wiesbaden Kurhaus .

In December 1926 in Bad Reichenhall or in September 1927 in Sulzbach , Bavaria , she met Heinrich Himmler, who was seven years her junior, during one of his lecture tours and stayed in close correspondence with him. While Himmler's letters to her were long lost, hers have survived. In it she describes him as "stubborn" or "Landsknecht with the hard heart" and was impressed by his romantic writing style and his sincere love. According to information from the newspaper Die Welt, Himmler's letters to his wife were discovered in Israel in January 2014 and classified as unequivocally genuine in a report by the Federal Archives . The blonde and blue-eyed nurse corresponded to Himmler's ideal of women . Both were also interested in homeopathy , medicinal herbs and agriculture. Himmler she received anti-Semitic and against Freemasonry directed reading . In a letter to Himmler on June 22, 1928, she made derogatory comments about the co-owner of the private clinic, the gynecologist and surgeon Bernhard Hauschildt: “This Hauschildt! Jew remains Jew! "

After several meetings at their respective places of residence, they both decided to get married in February 1928. Himmler initially found it difficult to reveal this relationship to his parents, since his future bride was divorced, seven years older and Protestant . The civil wedding took place on July 3, 1928 in Berlin-Schöneberg , the church in Zepernick, Brandenburg . No relative of Himmler's family came to the wedding, the witnesses were the father and the brother of the bride. Ultimately, Himmler's parents accepted his decision, but his wife's relationship with the Himmler family remained distant. Gebhard Himmler , Heinrich Himmler's brother, later characterized her as a “cool, tough, uncomfortable, extremely nervous, all too often lamenting woman”, but who was “an exemplary housewife” and “always stood by her husband”. Margarete Himmler had been a member of the NSDAP since 1928 ( membership number 97.252).

After the marriage, she sold her stake in the private clinic for 12,000 Reichsmarks . She moved from Berlin to Waldtrudering near Munich, where the couple had bought a house with the proceeds from the sale of the clinic. The couple tried unsuccessfully to supplement Himmler's low income as a party employee by selling their own agricultural products. The couple ran a chicken farm. The Himmlers had a daughter, Gudrun (born August 8, 1929 in Munich; † May 24, 2018), who was called Püppi . The orphan Gerhard von der Ahé (July 28, 1928 - December 2010) came into the family as an adopted child in March 1933 , whose SS father Kurt von der Ahé was shot on February 19, 1933 in a street battle in Berlin.

In February 1933, after selling the house, the Himmler family initially took up residence in Munich's Prinzregentenstrasse , where Adolf Hitler also lived. In 1934 the couple acquired the Lindenfycht property in Gmund am Tegernsee ; Heinrich Himmler was already mainly in Berlin at this time .

Due to Heinrich Himmler's service obligations, the family gatherings gradually became sporadic, regular contact consisted of telephone calls and letters. The couple grew more and more apart. On a few official occasions, such as Nazi party rallies or receptions at Hitler's, Margarete Himmler fulfilled her representative duties as the wife of the Reichsführer SS. In 1937, the couple bought another house in Berlin-Dahlem , where Margarete Himmler initially stayed for a while. Towards the end of 1937 they both went on a four-week trip to Italy . Although she was married to the Reichsführer SS, Margarete Himmler was unpopular in SS circles and was not recognized. During the Nazi party rally in 1938, for example, she came into conflict with the wives of the highest-ranking SS leaders who were present because they did not want her to dictate the daily program. Lina Heydrich , who , according to the Heydrich biographer and historian Robert Gerwarth , harbored a “violent dislike” for Margarete Himmler, made derogatory comments about Himmler's wife in the magazine Der Spiegel after the end of the war . This was a "stuffy, humorless and claustrophobic blonde woman" was. She dominated "her husband until at least 1936".

Baldur von Schirach wrote in his memoir that Heinrich Himmler had been " under the slipper " of his wife: " The chief of the police and SS was a zero at home and always had to give in".

Second World War

After the beginning of the Second World War , she worked in a German Red Cross (DRK) hospital . From the beginning of December 1939 she supervised the DRK military hospitals in Wehrkreis III (Berlin-Brandenburg). As part of this activity, she also carried out business trips to the countries occupied by the Wehrmacht . In March 1940, during a business trip to German-occupied Poland, she noted :

“Now I've been to Poznan, Lodsch and Warsaw. This pack of Jews, the Pollaks, most of them don't look like humans at all, u. the indescribable filth. It is an outrageous task to create order there. "

She reached the rank of Oberstführerin at the DRK. Since there were increasing conflicts between her and the doctors working there, she finally gave up her work for the DRK. Then she lived in seclusion again in Gmund. In February 1941 at the latest, she found out about her husband's relationship with his private secretary Hedwig Potthast , which made her feel humiliated and reacted with bitterness. Although the marriage was already broken, the couple did not divorce. Heinrich Himmler continued to visit his wife and daughter at their shared residence in Gmund, in particular to maintain his close relationship with his daughter. With Potthast, Himmler led a kind of “second marriage” , which he saw legitimized through the creation of children. The couple had two children. Both his wife and his lover “stood by him undeterred to the end”.

Margarete Himmler was in contact with her husband for the last time in April 1945 and then left Gmund with her daughter. Accompanied by SS men, she and her daughter came to South Tyrol , where both went into hiding in Bozen .

post war period

Margarete Himmler (left) with daughter Gudrun in Allied internment during the Nuremberg Trials in Nuremberg . Photo taken on November 24, 1945.

After the US Army marched into Bolzano in May 1945, SS men revealed the hiding place to American soldiers. Margarete Himmler was arrested with her daughter in Bolzano on May 13, 1945 and interned in Italy and France. She was then questioned immediately. During the interrogation, however, it became clear that she was ignorant of her husband's official business and that she persisted in a “small town mentality”. In September 1945 Margarete Himmler was interrogated in the course of the Nuremberg trials . Most recently, both women were held in the internment camp Ludwigsburg 77 . Since they were not accused and the Allies had no further use for them, mother and daughter were released from internment in November 1946. They were both initially placed in the Bodelschwinghschen Anstalten Bethel in Bielefeld . In the diaconal institution, mother and daughter worked in the weaving and spinning mill. The Himmlers' board and lodging were partly financed through donations, so that they could lead a modest life in the facility. Her stay there was expressly approved by the board of the Bethel establishment and also represented externally, but it was not undisputed. Assumptions arose that they were having a good time in the Bodelschwingh institutes. Thus, on June 4, 1947, an article appeared in the European edition of the New York Tribune , which was entitled "Widow of Heinrich Himmler Lives Like a Gentlewoman". Living with Margarete Himmler turned out to be difficult for the roommates.

Margarete Himmler was initially denazified in Bielefeld in 1948 as a minor offender (category III) . Through a lawyer, she attacked this classification in 1950, because her early NSDAP membership was only "nominal", her high position in the DRK resulted from her membership since 1914 and she herself, as the wife of the Reichsführer SS, would not have been in the limelight. Nevertheless, the denazification committee in Detmold did not revise her classification, as she probably represented the goals of the NSDAP and approved of her husband's actions. Her lawyer then insisted in the subsequent appeal proceedings that she could not be held responsible for her husband's actions and that this decision was guided by the idea of clan liability . On March 19, 1951, she was finally classified as a follower (category IV). The verdict recognized that she was not responsible for her husband's crimes but had not distanced herself from them either. In addition, she has benefited from the rise of her husband. Since this denazification procedure, which had begun in the British occupation zone , was not recognized by the Bavarian Prime Minister Hans Ehard , another denazification procedure was carried out due to the unresolved question of ownership of your house in Gmund. Finally, on January 15, 1953 in Munich, she was classified as a beneficiary of the Nazi regime and thus burdened (Category II) and sentenced to 30 days of special work and the loss of pension rights and the right to vote .

Her daughter had left Bethel in 1952. In the summer of 1954 she moved out of the Bodelschwingh Institute and took a private room at Bethel. From autumn 1955 she lived with her sister Lydia in Heepen . Her adoptive son Gerhard initially lived in her apartment as a late returnee . Her further career was hardly noticed by the public. In response to critical inquiries regarding Margarete Himmler's nine-year lodging in the Bodelschwingh Institutions, the director of the institution Friedrich von Bodelschwingh said in April 1962:

“An edifying story did not arise from the fact that Ms. Himmler persisted in absolute delusion until she left us without thanks and wandered off to her brown cronies who have since got back on their feet. This, too, cannot impress us in any way, because we do not obey the command of Jesus in order to be able to tell any pious success stories afterwards. "

Margarete Himmler spent her twilight years with her daughter in Munich.

From 1937 to 1945 she kept an irregular diary . The diary has a total of 122 pages, the original is now in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . Excerpts from the diary were published by Jürgen Matthäus .

Ratings

Peter Longerich notes that Margarete Himmler probably did not know anything about her husband's official secrets or planned projects during the Nazi era. After the end of the war she herself stated that she had no knowledge of crimes, but did not distance herself from them either. Margarete Himmler was a staunch National Socialist with an anti-Semitic attitude. According to Jürgen Matthäus, she enjoyed herself during the Nazi era “in representing and at the same time suffered from self-inflicted isolation from her environment. Her attempt [...] to take up what she saw as meaningful activity in the German Red Cross in Berlin did not break the loneliness. […] As a party member […] she believed in the Führer to the end and despised Jews as a 'pack' that had to disappear. Visits to ghettos confirmed her prejudices, but she still seems to have enriched herself with booty from the East - like other SS women ".

literature

Web links

Commons : Margarete Himmler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to Christina Wittler: Life in secret. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 194 and p. 200.
  2. ↑ a b c d Christina Wittler: Life in the Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 194.
  3. ↑ a b Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 120.
  4. ↑ a b Jürgen Matthäus: "It was very nice". Excerpts from Margarete Himmler's diary, 1937–1945 . In: WerkstattGeschichte 25 (2000), p. 75.
  5. ↑ Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 201.
  6. ^ Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography, Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 112.
  7. ↑ Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 121 f.
  8. ↑ Heinrich Himmler's lost letters surfaced , In: Die Welt from January 24, 2014 on welt.de.
  9. ↑ "I'm going to Auschwitz. Kisses, Your Heini" , on: msn.com on January 26, 2014.
  10. ↑ Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 121.
  11. ↑ a b c Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography, Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 117.
  12. ↑ Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 120 f.
  13. ↑ Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 125.
  14. ↑ a b Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 140.
  15. ↑ Quoted from Christina Wittler: Leben im Verborgenen. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 195.
  16. ↑ a b Jürgen Matthäus: "It was very nice". Excerpts from Margarete Himmler's diary, 1937–1945 . In: WerkstattGeschichte 25 (2000), p. 77.
  17. ↑ Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 198.
  18. ↑ Hans Peter Bleuel: The clean realm. The hidden truth. Eros and Sexuality in the Third Reich . Gustav Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1981, p. 266.
  19. ↑ Himmler's Offspring - WORLD. Retrieved September 3, 2017 .
  20. ^ Sven Felix Kellerhoff , Simone Meyer, Jaques Schuster: Himmler's offspring. In: Die Welt , February 1, 2014, p. 6.
  21. ↑ Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 195.
  22. ↑ Jürgen Matthäus: "It was very nice". Excerpts from Margarete Himmler's diary, 1937–1945 . In: WerkstattGeschichte 25 (2000), p. 76.
  23. ↑ a b c Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 196.
  24. ↑ Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 140.
  25. ^ Robert Gerwarth: Reinhard Heydrich. Biography . Siedler, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-88680-894-6 , p. 83.
  26. ↑ Lina Heydrich 1950 in the magazine Der Spiegel about Margarete Himmler. Quoted from: Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 237; Context and partly cited, partly paraphrased in Gerwarth, Heydrich , p. 83. THE GAME IS OFF - ARTHUR NEBE. 19. Continuation . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 1950 ( online ).
  27. ↑ Baldur von Schirach: I believed in Hitler. Mosaik-Verlag, Hamburg 1967, p. 213.
  28. ^ A b Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography, Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 482 f.
  29. ↑ Margarete Himmler's note about a business trip to occupied Poland from March 1940. Quoted from: Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography, Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 483.
  30. ↑ Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 198.
  31. ^ Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography, Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 484.
  32. ↑ a b c Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography, Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 753.
  33. ↑ a b c d Oliver Schröm, Andrea Röpke : Silent help for brown comrades. The secret network of old and neo-Nazis. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-86153-231-X , p. 106 f.
  34. ↑ Katrin Himmler: The Himmler Brothers. A German family story. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, p. 264.
  35. ↑ a b Christina Wittler: Life in the Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 193.
  36. ↑ Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 197.
  37. ↑ Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 197 f.
  38. ↑ Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 199 f.
  39. ↑ Friedrich von Bodelschwingh in April 1962 on the placement of Margarete Himmler in the Bodelschwingh institutions. Quoted from: Christina Wittler: Leben im Verborgenen. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 200.
  40. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 248.
  41. ^ Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography, Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 409.
  42. ↑ Jürgen Matthäus: "It was very nice". Excerpts from Margarete Himmler's diary, 1937–1945 . In: WerkstattGeschichte 25 (2000), p. 78.
  43. ^ Peter Longerich: Heinrich Himmler. Biography, Siedler, Munich 2008, p. 482.
  44. ↑ Christina Wittler: Life in Hidden. The widow of the "Reichsführer SS" Heinrich Himmler Margarete Himmler (1893–1967) In: Bärbel Sunderbrink (Ed.): Women in the Bielefelder Geschichte , Bielefeld 2010, p. 200.
personal data
SURNAME Himmler, Margarete
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Himmler, Marga (nickname); Boden, Margarete (maiden name); Siegroth, Margarete (name from first marriage)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nurse, wife of Heinrich Himmler and mother of Gudrun Burwitz
DATE OF BIRTH September 9, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Goncarzewo near Bromberg
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1967
Place of death Munich